I am the owner of a property in New York state. Four years ago 2 people put mechanic's liens on a property I own. The liens are not detailed in breakdown of costs. Just some numbers scrambled down and a total. The numbers don't even add up to the total. Thousands of dollars off. The liens are fraudulent as I never hired these people to do work on the house and they filed the liens for spite. They also never served the liens on me. There is no affidavit of service with the county clerk for these liens. How would this affect my ability to refinance the property.
Have these liens been extended? A mechanic's lien is only valid for one year from the date of filing. Given the age of these liens, they would have had to have been extended by court order. If there is no such extension on file, they are expired as a matter of law (regardless of their merits). However, notwithstanding, sometimes financial institutions still want to see that the liens are removed of record, which will require a proceeding resulting in a court order to discharge the liens.